Facilities for aquaculture research and innovation

Research stations

Comprising indoor and outdoor facilities,our land-based fish and shrimp research stations enable us to closely monitor and control environmental conditions in order to conduct precise experiments on our latest formulations with a variety of aquaculture species. To ensure we fully meet the local needs and challenges of the industry, we have established units in Norway, Italy, Spain, China and Japan.

Combating sea lice

Our research station at Lerang, Norway, specialises in increasing the performance of Atlantic salmon and also houses a laboratory dedicated to dealing with sea lice.

Feed advancements for freshwater trout are assessed at our research station in northern Italy, while our unit in Spain coordinates trials on marine species such as sea bass and sea bream in conjunction with research institutes in southern Europe.

In Asia, our research station in China focuses on shrimp and warm water fish species including Asian sea bass, snakehead, yellow catfish and tilapia. Our Japanese unit, together with Kagoshima University, specialises in yellowtail kingfish and red sea bream.

Research station for shrimp and Asian fish species located in Hezhoubei, China.

Outdoor pound at research station in Hezhoubei, China

Outdoor tanks at Lerang research station, Norway

Trial tanks Mozzecane, Italy

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Aquaculture laboratory

ARC’s internationally-accredited aquaculture laboratory analyses the results of all of our trials. With the help of NIR calibrations, which are centrally coordinated by ARC and exist for almost all the raw materials that we source globally, our local units conduct precise measurements of the nutritional value of all our feed components. Our formulators use this information to establish the best formulation recipes.

The laboratory also evaluates the composition, performance and quality of our products to ensure the specific requirements of each customer are being fully met.

At the same time, we operate a global monitoring programme for all finished products, whereby samples produced by all our companies are sent to the same laboratory, approved for the methods, to be compared like-for-like.

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Aqua feed technology plant

Our pilot-scale feed technology plant (FTP) incorporates small-scale feed production equipment that explores the latest production technology, new feed formulations and potential raw materials. It enables us to efficiently optimise equipment and evaluate new production methods, as well as producing sample batches of prototype feeds.

Adhering to our strict production specifications, the FTP supplies a wide range of experimental feeds to our research stations and to cooperating research institutes with a view to further fine-tuning and optimisation based upon the results.

The facility also enables us to conduct practical training and share competence across our business.